System of calls and signals.



No. 635,493. Patented Oct. 24, 1899. R. J. LOUIS. SYSTEM OF CALLS ANDSIGNALS.

. W? I |||||||||||||l|1 Patenteu od. 24, |899.

BMI. LOUIS. SYSTEM OF OALLS AND SIGNALS.

(Application med Apr. 22, 1898.) (No Model.) 2' shouts-Sheet 2.

PAj'rENT f Erica p ROBERT J. LOUIS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SYSTEM OF CALLS AND SIGNALS.

lEIFIATlZhT forming part of Letters Patent No. 635,493, datecl October24, 1899.

Application filefil April 22, 1898. Serial No. 678,484. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known thatl, ROBERT J. LoUIs, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, inthe county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new and useful System of Calls and Signals, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to a system of calls andsignals.

The nature of the invention is to display a signal on the front of abuilding or in some likeconspicuous position operated by means of amissile -sent from some distant point through proper conduits to aremote'destination in the said conduits, where the missile, preferablyin the shape of a ball or disk, will close an electric circuit orcontrol a like potential force-such as pneumatic, mechanical, orhydraulically-operated contrvance-for displaying the signal to which Ihave referred.

My invention is especially adapted to the use for calling and signalingto drivers of express-wagons or the like from the many and various roomsin large office and manufacturing buildings.

Heretofore the method used to notify one of the common carriers, such asan express company, that their service Was required in a certain room ofone' of the large office or manufacturing buildings has consisted inhanging out a card bearing the name of the company wanted. This card hasbeen usually displayed from the hall below. tenant is never quite surethat the card will be seen or that it willremain where he placed' it. Anumber of such cards danglingin front of or in the halls of suchbuildings are nnsightly and otherwise objectionable. My system of callsand signals is designed to overcome all of the objections referred toand to provide a neat, convenient, and very efficient' fully apparentfrom the subjoined descrip- The the same parts in the several figures,and in which- Figure 1 is a Vertical section of an officebuilding,showing my system of conduits and signals installed. Fig. 2 is a sectionof a receptacle and branch from the main conduit. Fig. 3isacross-section of adistributer, taken on line 3 of Fig. 1, lookingwith the arrow. Fig. t is an elevation of the distributer and receivers,partly in section, showing electric connections. Fig. 5 is across-section of the conduit-tube A, showing the innerelastic tube O.The latter is also shown in the-lower portion of Fig. 2. Fig. 0 is across-section of one of the missiles le, having an outside covering ofelastic material 82.

Referring to Fig. 1, A represents a Vertical conduit which may be madeof a metal tube and which extends from the top fioor of the building tothe first fioor thereof, having openings or receptacles B B' B. At thelower end of the tube A a tube O, preferably of soft rubber, is attachedand is arranged in any convenient manner, so that the missile descendingfrom a considerable height may have its momentum partially arrested bythe effect of the tortuous path thus provided and by the flexibleresistance oifered by the elastic tube.

The receivers D D' D DI D have conduit communication with the tubes Aandl C through the distributer d. The two receivers D and D/ are shownenlarged in Fig. ll. The conduit-distributer d over the respectivereceivers is shown in cross-section in Fig. 3.

The missiles a, b, c, d, and e are shown in Fig. 3, and in this instancethey are represented to be balls varying in diameter and adapted to rollon their respective ledges a', b', c', d', and e'. Receiver D is adaptedfor the smallest ball a, this ledge being removed for some distanceahead of the receiver. The bottom fioor of the distributer is continuedon an oblique line into the receiver. When the ledge a' is thusremoved,the ball a will drop down onto the fioor thereof and roll intothe receiver D". The ball b will not fall into receiver D, because beinglarger it rolls on ledge b', and therefore it will pass freely over theopening made by removing the ledge a' and will in turn fall into theopening which is made in the distributer by removing ledge b' and itwill be deposited in receiver D', and so all of the balls in turn willbe distributed in like manner in their respective receivers, the largestball in the receiver farthest removed from the initial point, thesmallest ball in the first receiver, and the intermediate receivers willtake the balls in respect to their various diameters.

In Fig. receiver D contains three balls, numbered 1,S-l2,369, and 891.Thesenumbers correspond with the rooms from which they were sent. Itwill be noticed that the first ball, No. 1,842, has displaced acontact-switch f, which is held in by means of spring g. The switch fcarries a flexible contact-tongue h, which has made electrical contactwith the insulated contact z' as a result of its displacement by theposition of the ball 1,8%2. This contact closes a circuit 7a 7d, whichcircuit containsbatterymand electromagnetn. The latter, being energizedby the current fiowing in the circuit thus formcd, has attracted thearmature 0 from its back-stop and support o' against the action of thespring 1). The armature closes contacts q and q', which completes thecircuit r and i from the source of supply, such as a dynamo-electricmachine 8, through the incandescent lamp 25. lt is evident that theswitch f and its respective contacts h and could be included in circuitr and r', and it would then directly control the same instead ofcontrolling it through the instrumentality of the devices contained incircuit k and as shown in connection with receiver D'. Referring toreceiver D, u is a removable stop contained in the bottom of thereceiver, which maybe removed by unlockin g by means of key '0.

Referring now to Fig. 1, 13' is a receptacle that may be placed in therespective rooms of the building. The receptacles B, B', and B are shownplaced in the respective halls of the building.

lVhen the receptacles are placed in the rooms, it sometimes becomesnecessary to include a horizontal conduit-as, for instance, when thepipe composing the conduit is placed under the floor. For fear that themissile may not attain sufficient speed in dropping through the Verticalportion of the conduit to propel it through the horizontal portion lhave provided a piston w,which is held up by the spring a; and the rod1/. A quick sharp stroke upon the knob forming the upper terminal of therod y will drive the pisto'n below the oriice formcd in the conduit forthe receptacle B', which will compress the air in the conduit and whichwill add a considerable impulse to the missile while it is traveling thehorizontal portion of the conduit. Should this portion of the conduit,however, be given a slight inclination toward the main conduit A, themissile,which, as before stated, may be a ball or adisk, will roll bygravity into the Vertical conduit and the device just described will notbe necessary.

I will now describe the operation of my call and signal system. I willsuppose that the system has been installcd, as described, to be used forcalling the representatives of the various forwarding express companiesto the rooms of the building for parcels or packages that are designedto be shipped by the tenants therein. I will describe the operation of asingle-tube system wherein balls are used as missiles.

Each room in the building is provided with as many balls as there arereceivers in the system, which may correspond with the number of expresscompanies for which the system is intended. The balls are of varioussizes-that is to say, all of the balls for express company D are of auniform size, but are larger or smaller than those for express companyD', which are also of a uniform size, and so on. A complete set ofballs, one for each company, is placed in each office. The number of theroom in which they are placed is stamped on each of the balls, and allof the balls are painted or stained. For instance, all of the balls forD may be red, those forD' may be green, and those for D maybe blue, andso on. The lamps or other signals on the outside of the building may beeolored to correspond to the color of the balls, and the receivers intowhich the respective balls are deposited in the lower hall may alsocorrespond in color with the balls which they are to contain and to eachof their outside signals. Suppose now a tenant located in room 1,842wishes to call to his room a representative of express company D. Hewill drop red ball No. 1,84l2 into the receptacle, which may belocatedin his room or in the hall, as shown. The ball will descend withconsiderable Velocity until it strikes the rubber tube C, Fig. 1, whichwill act as a cushion, by means of which it will have its line of motiondelected several times, which will greatlyimpede the ballls Velocity,and it will then slowly roll over the distribnter until it comes overreceiver D, into which it will drop for the reason heretofore explained.lVhen it drops to the bottom of the receiver, it displaces switch-level'f, thus closing circuit 7a 7.1' by means of contacts h and the battery menergizes magnet n, which attracts the armature 0, which in turn closescontacts q and q', and thus lights the red lamp t, which is placed onthe outside of the building and which is in circuit i' r', coming fromthe source of supply 8. There may be four or more such lamps in the samecircuit, one on each corner or side of the building, or they may belocated in any position where they may be easily observed by theexpressmen from the street. Instead of lamps there may be any propersignal operated by the instrumentality of the missile. The respectivereceivers may each be large enough to contain a number of balls. Thefirst one will always IOO IIO

operate the signal device, as shown. When the expressman is attracted bythe lamp or other signal,which he may know by the proper designation,such as its color, is a call for him, he will unlock the receiver D byinserting key o into the removable button u and remove the same, whenthe balls contained in the receiver, each having the number of the roomfrom whence they come thereon, will drop out, after which spring g willcause the lever f to break the contact between the tongue h and contacti, the magnetic will become denergized, and the armature o Will beforced up by spring p, breaking circuit r r' at contacts q and q', thusextinguishing the lamp t. I-Ie will then go to the rooms correspondingto the numbers on the several various balls, restore them to theirrespective places, and perform the service for which he Was called. RoomNo. 1,842 may at the same time, if he desires, call a representative ofD' by inserting a blue ball, as shown, or any or all of the companiesfor which the system has accommodation.

In order that the balls when moving through the conduit may not make adisagreeable noise, I prefer to line the interior of the tube or have itentirely composed of a soft yieldin g material, such as a soft-rubbertube, or to cover the balls with a like material for this purpose when ametal tube is used.

It is evident that a separate conduit for each set of balls may beemployed, or that disks may be used instead of balls, and many otherVariations may be substituted without departing from the spirit of myinvention.

I have shown and described what I consider a preferred form; but I donot wish to be coniined to the eXact construction shown, but

wish to reserve to myself all proper use andl form of construction forwhich my system is adapted.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A system of calls and signals, consisting of a conduit; a missileadapted to pass through the said conduit; in combination with a signaldisplayed at a remote point, by a means set 'into operation by the saidmissile, substantially as shown and described.

2. A system of calls and signals, consisting of a conduit; a missilehaving an elastic or pliable surface, and adapted to pass through thesaid conduit; in'combination with a signal displayed at a remote point,by a means set into operation by the saidmissile, substantially as shownand described.

3. A system of calls and signals, consisting of a conduit, having aninterior elastic'or pliable surface; a missile adapted to pass throughthe said cond uit; in combination with a signal displayed at a remotepoint, by a means set into operation by the said missile, substantiallyas shown and described.

4. In a system of calls and signals, a vertical conduit provided withone or more receptacles; a missile adapted' to pass through the saidconduit; in combination with a curved, fieXible tube composing a part ofthe said conduit for checkin g the flight of the said missile,substantially as shown and described.

5. In a system of calls and-signals, a conduit provided with one or morereceptacles; a missile adapted to pass through the said conduit; areceiver for the said missile; in combination with a signal devicelocated at a point remote from the said receiver, and a means forcontrolling the said signals by the instrumentality of the said missile,substantially as shown and described.

6. In a system of calls and signals a building; a conduit extending fromfioor tofioor therein; a missile adapted to pass through the saidconduit; a means for 'checking the fiight of the said missile incombination with a signal displayed at a point remote from the conduit,the said signal being controlled by the instrumentality of the saidmissile, substantially as shown and described.

7. In a system of calls and signals, a conduit; a missile adapted topass through the said conduit; a device for introducing compressed airwithin the said conduit for propelling the missile in combination with asignal, displayed at a remote point from the dest-ination of the saidmissile; and a means for controlling the operation of the said signal bythe instrumentality of the said missile,

vsubstantially as shown and described.

In witness whereof I hereunto Subscribe my name this 12th day of April,1898.

ROBERT J. LOUIS.

Witnesses:

L. O. WILSON, A. H. Louis.

